Packing box construction



April 3 r G. DAVIDSON 1,997,455

PACKING BOX CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 19, 1952 lo 1 r "HM" m d/ e aINVENTOR.

56 6 5767/71 Jay/260 p 3 m 9d ATTORNEY,

Patented Apr. 9,

UNITED STATES, PA ENT OFF C 1 r 1 PACKING BOX ooNs'rRUo'noN GlennDavidson, Bloomington, 5111.

Application 7 This invention relates to certain improvements intheconstruction of cleatedp'anelpacking boxes.

A cleated panel box is one the ends, sides, top and bottom ofwhich aremade'of sheets or panels of plywood, fibre-board or equivalent material,with cleatsor strips attached at theedges of at least a portion of thepanels, thesecleats serving as reinforcing members in holding the panels10 :the cleats extendaround theentire peripheryof iall the panels. Whensuch a box is assembled,

the cleats of adjoining panels are ordinarily nailed together, suchnailing being the means of holding the individualpanels together in theassembled box. Thus we have a box of which :the ends, sides, top-andbottom are panels boundedby'cleats, the cleats bounding adjacent panelsbeing nailed togetherin pairs and so form the edges of the boxextendingintermediate the corners. V

When such a cleated panel box,loaded with a shifting load such astextiles, fish, meat and the like, is dropped .on acorner, theimpactresults in a shock wave which exhibits an expansive effect and thetendencyis to disrupt one or more ofthe edges of .the box byspreadingapart the pair of cleats-of which the'edgeis formed. This separation ofthe cleats forming the edge of the box takes place in two stages; First,due to the fact that the cleats are more'securely anchored at thecorners of the ,box than'at intermediate points, the naturaltendency ofthe cleats tobend permits a considerable separation at pointsintermediate the corners of thebox. This willhappen regardlessofthercare used in nailing and even if rosin coated or cement coverednails-areused.

At the end of the first stage of the. separation, the pair of cleatsforming the rupturing edge of the box resemble in formtwo archerybowsplaced string to string. l i

The endof the firststage of the separationis reached at or near thedeflection limit of the cleats. 'Thesecond stage may take either of twoforms, Either the cleats will tear themselves free from their anchoragetoother cleats at their upper end and from their respective panels andseparate wide apart at, their upper ends, or the cleats will break atthe point of their greatest,

separation; Only the edgesradia-ting from the corner of the boxsustaining the impact ordinarily suffer rupture. The remaining edgesremain in 'tact,

.It is obvious that thesecond stage'of the rupture' described abovecould not have occurred 55 had it'not been preceded by the first stage.Nevof the edge of the box, sure ineffective.

together in the form of a box. In most cases,

panel boxes which has come into general use'is that oftplacing one ormore bands of metal tape .and time-Waste'by the final packer.

'tion takes account of the first stage of the, rupg certain illustrativeembodiments of the inven- October-e19, 1932, serial No. 638,464 eClaims. (Cl. 2 7-12) ertheless the fact that the greatest apparentdamage occurs: during thesecond stage has induced may users of cleatedpanel boxes to place some kind of ;:tie at the corners of the box. Be-

cause ties placed at the corners of the box do 5 not protect against thefirstistage of the rupture they are ina large mea- The only other methodof reinforcing cleated entirely aroundthe box. This, however, iswasteful of; material, andrequires excessive handling 'In accordancewith my invention} funda- 15 mentally important advantages over boththese methods of reinforcmgcleated panel boxes may be had. As comparedto the construction based on a tie placed at the corner of the box,myinventure of the edge of. the box which the tie at the corner doesnot. As comparedto the construction employing bands of metallicjtapecompletely encircling the box,'my invention far more economical of metalandtime, and further, if 5 i the form of my invention described indetail hereinafter whereinthe tie is nailed or otherwise fastenedto theremote edge'of the cleat, is used, the danger of splitting thecleat ismuch less than in the case where the nail, is driven into the face ofthe cleat as is necessarily the case with bands completely, encirclingthe box. 1 Furthermore, in a cleated panel box the panels themselveshave'great tensile strength. Accordingly, in casei of itheybandcompletely encircling "the, box," the,35 relativelylong sections f :theband interme diate the-edges serverlittle' or no useful purpose, andIhavefound that only relatively short sections which serve to bind thetwo cleats together to form th'ejedge ofthe box are really eifectiveiin4,0

preventing the rupture of the edge of the box.

Accordingly, the present invention has among its objectsthe provision ofpacking'box construc tion which is resistive against disruption and yetwithout appreciable increase in weight. Another object is a constructionwhich harmonizes. with existing manufacturing methods. and standards.Gtherobjects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

To the. accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,1 then, comprises the features hereinafter fully describedandparticularly pointedout in the claims, the;fo1lowing description andannexed drawing settingfforth tail section taken on a 'tion, these beingindicative however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciple of the invention may be applied.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of my invention; Fig.2 is an enlarged deplane substantially indicated by the line II-II, Fig.1: Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a detail; Fig. 4 is a fragmentarycleats 3 at the edges between'corn'er's', e'ach edge presenting a pairof adjacent cleats,each cleat being secured to its corresponding panel,the latter being made for instance of plywood, cellu lose board, etc."having suitable strength and lightness. The particular manner of joiningthe ends of the cleats with the abutting panel portions may varysomewhat in accordance with con- -ditions, but with all constructionswhere two ad- .jacent reenforcements or, cleats form the boxedge, theadvantages of the invention may be had. Joining the adjacent cleats atsome point intermediary of thecorners is an inter-cleat tie 4, and oneor more of these may be located along the cleat-pair if desired. Suchinter-cleat tie may take the form of a metallic strip or tape,

which may be. anchored to the remote edge of each cleat 3- by suitablemeans, for instance a nail 5, Fig. 2. Conveniently, such inter-cleatties may lee-shaped up in preformed condition as il-- lustrated in Fig.3,being angularly bent to .dimen:

sion, and-provided with nail-holes 6 at the ends. In'some cases, thefastening holes 6 may be appliedas a final stage after assembling on thecleats, a suitable burring tool setting the hole and indenting orembedding the metal into the wood sufficiently to anchor it even withoutapplication further of a nail. However anchored finally, the inter-cleatties 4 are placed in position on the edges ofthe box suitably.assembled, and as positioned at points intermediary of the corners arecapable'of firmly'holding the cleats together irrespective of customarystresses incurred in the handling of shipping boxes'under ordinarycon-'ditionsi As a further means of facilitating construction, I maypreliminarily apply the inter-cleat strip 40, Fig. 4, to the panel piece2a, the panel piece being of any suitable material, plywood, celluloseor composition board, etc., and the metallic strip 4a anchored inconvenient handling position with one end 5 adjacent the edge of thepanel piece in.

such position that "the cleat 3 when overlaid in its proper relation asindicated in the dotted line position in Fig. 4, will be in position toallow the strip ta to be loosened at its end 8 and be bent up around thecleats 3. If desired further, a nail may be driven through the strip ortie into the edge of the cleat 3.- Such nail position would comerelatively at a point suchas indicated by the dotted opening 9. It willbe understood that for the temporary positioningfofthe strip 4a in suchpreliminary manner, the metal may be simply burred into or embedded intothe wood by a burring tool at the points l0, l l', a perforation beingformed in the metal and tongues being forced down into the wood.

Instead of preliminarily carrying the metallic strips on theside-elements for the boxes, in some cases it is preferred topreliminarily provide them on the cleat-elements. As shown in Fig. 5,such metallic strip 41) may be preliminarily held to the cleat 3b bybeing tacked or burred at its ends 12, l3,,and when the cleatsareassembled with the rest of the box, the strip 41) may be loosened andswung around, as in dotted line position,

and be nailed at the endl 2 and again at the other end I3 as finallypositioned about of the associated pair. I 7 If the metalliccleat-elements b'e initially in the other cleat the form of a ribbon ortape of indefinite length, r

as strips or for instance a roll R, Fig. 6, divided into sections ofproper length by lines of partial severance as indicated by the dottedlines s, as-

sembly is greatly facilitated. Pre-formed holes 7 p to, we, may bearranged at consistent spacing,

ready forfthe fastenings. Severance of each tielength requires no heavyduty cutting tool.

As thus seen, in whatever embodiment, my invention makes possible a boxconstruction of particular strength at otherwise weak points,facilitating efficient, yet light construction wherever packing boxesare required with edge-cleats,

of the. .boxes without requiring any essential change in manufacturingschedules.

Other modes of applying the principle'of imy invention may be employedinstead of .the one explained, change'being made as regards the detailsherein disclosed, provided the features.

stated by any of the following. claims, or the equivalent of such,beemployed. r ".I therefore particularly point tinctly claim as myinvention;-

1. In a construction of the character described, preformed sides and topand bottom having cleats, said cleats being arranged in pairs out anddisat the edges between corners when said sides,

top and bottom are assembled, and bendable metallic ties connectingadjacent cleats at a point intermediary, s'aid'ties being secured to theremote edges of said cleats, said edges being substantiallyperpendicular to the part to which said cleat is secured. t

2. In a construction of the' characte'r described, preformed sides andtop and bottom having cleats, said cleats beingarrangedin pairs at theedges between corners when said sides, top and bottom are assembled, andbendable metallic ties having angularly' disposed arms and further bentattachingterminals each fastened to -a remote edge ofia cleat'of anadjacent pair at 'apoint 'intermediary.

3. In apermanent box construction, sidesand top and bottom, cleats inpairs at the edges between corners and bendable metallic tiespermanently connected to remote edges of adjacent cleats at a pointintermediary, said edges being substantially perpendicular to the partto whichsaid cleatis secured.

4. In a permanent box construction, sides and top and bottom, cleats inpairs at the edges between corners and bendable metallic ties of onepiece construction permanently connected to remote edges of adjacentcleats'at a point intermediary, said edges being substantiallyperpendicular to the part of which said'cleat'is secured.

at a substantially intermediate point, and a cleat secured to said sideadjacent said edge and over- 7 lying said portion of said tie, wherebysaid tie is firmly anchored and may be bent over said cleat to besecured to a cleat of another side.

6. In a construction of the character described,

a box panel havinga cleat secured thereto, one edge of said cleat risingsubstantially parallel to said panel and a bendable cleat tie rotatablysecured to said edge at a substantially intermediate point of saidcleat, whereby a series of such panels may be readily assembled into abox.

' GLENN DAVIDSON.

